China Central Radio and TV University (CCRTVU)is a dedicated open and distance education institution, under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education of P.R. china which offers, on a nationwide basis, multi-media courses through radio, TV, print, audio-visual materials and computer networks. In February 1978, the preparation of its establishment commenced, and in February 1979, its opening ceremony was held.

At present CCRTVU has a total of 385 staff members, among whom 126 are full-time teachers and 181 are professionals and technicians. The number of professionals taking senior and associate professional post is76.

CCRTVU has invited more than 1,000 eminent professors, specialists and scholars from universities and research institutions both at home and abroad as textbook writers and TV course presenters.

CCRTVU, 44 provincial Radio and TV Universities (PRTVUs), 841 branch schools at prefecture and city level, 1, 768 work stations make up a nationwide open and distance educational system which operates on the basis of overall planning and management at different levels.CCRTVU has offered over 350 unified courses in 59 specialities of 22 subject areas,, which cover 6 fields: natural sciences, engineering, the humanities, economics and management, agriculture and medical science. CCRTVU has written more than 1,000 kinds of textbooks, and produced more than 400 kinds of audiovisual courses. And it has been speeding up the development of computer-based and network-based courseware.Up to 1999, Radio and TV Universities of China (RTVUs) have seen over 2.60 million college graduates and more than 1 million secondary vocational school graduates. The non-degree graduates of continuing education and in-service training are over 35 million and tens of thousands of farmers have received training through various practical agricultural courses. 710,000 teachers of primary schools and 550,000 teachers of secondary schools have graduated from CTVTC. 2 million teachers and 1 million principles of primary and secondary schools have been trained.

At present, China Education Television (CETV) has three channels mainly to transmit CCRTVU's courses via satellite.

CCRTVU has been connected to RTVUs at provicial level by computer network, which allows for network based teaching and management.

CCRTVU is a members of both the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) and the Asian Association of Opening Universities (AAOU), and has maintained good relations with other open and distance education institutions in countries like the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and India, and areas like Hongkong, Macao and Taiwan regions, and with other relevant international educational organizations.